Dog Ears
by YellowTangerines
Summary: Jade Harley wants her voice heard. Having given her a normal summer day, the world obliges. Homestuck crossover AU with Kagerou Project, no Sburb, no trolls. /Story 4 of Mekakustuck/
1. Wake

**Dog Ears**

 _Beep. Beep. Beep._

Jade woke with a start. This blanket wasn't her own. These weren't her clothes. As she sat up, searching for sight without her glasses to aid her, Jade's head pounded. What was this? A hospital?

"Hey there, are you awake?" A nurse. Rose had told her about these. This _was_ a hospital. "What's your name? Can you speak or are you too tired?"

"I can speak," Jade answered. "My name is Jade and I don't know where I am." Her voice came out raw and stumbling, not used to itself.

The nurse nodded. "Well Jade, you're currently in Apia, which is in Samoa. A crew of scientists found you unconscious on an island and brought you here. Miraculously, you're not injured. How did you end up like this? What happened?"

Jade began to tell the woman before her what she knew, finding the lilt of her speech again while she spoke. There wasn't anything condescending about this nurse nor the rest of the hospital staff, contrary to what Rose had said – though that may simply have been her internet friend's personality. Jade pulled all her memories into words, not breaking eye contact as she watched her story make it down on a clipboard and paper. She was on an exploration trip with Grandpa, rifles in hand, near the coast…Then what? When the nurse asked for elaboration on the rifles, Jade tasted something sour in her mouth, like they malfunctioned somehow. It was impossible, though; there was never any problem with the guns that could land her in a place for injured people. And nothing ached, so it couldn't be. Couldn't be. Right?

The days in the hospital went smoothly afterwards, but they were perplexing. There was no use in arguing for the right to go outside and not stay in bed, but even as the discord passed people were standing stunned and speechless whenever Jade came about. The gardener never considered herself the kind of person that could simply shut people up, but either way she swore that talking about the nice weather wasn't offensive. Even as it began to get clearer what kinds of situations would make people act that way, there was no truly stopping people from cutting their sentences midway. Sometimes weird kids would call her eyes creepy as she passed by to use the washroom. Was it really that uncommon to have green eyes?

It wouldn't have to be that way forever, though. Legal shenanigans decreed that Jade would be sent to live in the US mainland, after it was settled that she wasn't hurt, deceased or with some potential guardian that lived closer to the hospital in Apia. There was a boat sent to pick her up and everything, away from the nonverbal freak occurrences that peppered Jade's time in Samoa – but as she stood and looked up on a blue skies, white clouds day, something tugged in her thoughts. What if it wasn't just a bunch of freak occurrences?

Jade would just have to find out.


	2. Talkative

Life returned to normal, as normal as life could be for someone who lived with their friend's cake prankster nanna. Jade zipped up her hoodie and took Bec's leash, looking out onto the bright weekend skies all the while. She stepped out the door onto the pavement, thinking about what corners of Maple Valley to explore next. Was there an alternate route to the community garden that took less time? A smile crept on Jade's face. There were multitudes of fruits, vegetables and flowers she had never tried to grow before in her old atrium, ones that the people who also lived here were more experienced in coaxing from the ground. They were beautiful things. What about her own plot, her own little group of flowers in its box? How were they doing? Maybe it'd be a good idea to check on them. Jade took a left turn, cautiously looking down the road before she crossed. Nanna made extra sure that her other legal charge knew how to cross a road. Another turn, this time going right.

A bus passed the gardener as she strode down the sidewalk. Though it wasn't yellow like the bus she took to school, the familiar rev of the engine made her reminisce anyways. The feeling of being so high off the concrete, of watching the houses and streets slide past her window – Jade knew that it was a perfectly mundane thing in her new home, but for now it was breathtaking. She continued walking Bec. The community garden was in sight now. Only a couple of minutes until she made it.

There was a puddle on the sidewalk, reflecting a black haired girl in the glassy water. It was oddly clear for a splotch of old rain on the ground, Jade knew, as she glanced in it. She made eye contact. Green. That was good. The thought of it being otherwise sent chills down her spine, the horrified looks and gaping mouths staring her in the heart. Body language was a powerful thing. Luckily though, that was not reality at the moment. Jade walked on, pushing away any thoughts of eye colours and thinking instead of leaves and roots.

That wasn't to say though, that the red was completely unwanted. Sometimes, it was a bit of an escape to have. Like during the feeling jams.

* * *

Dave set up a puppet pile in a room that Nanna wasn't using, and that was where he and Jade were sitting.

"So what was this about again?" Dave asked. "You called me over for a 'feeling jam' or whatever you called it and that's all I know about this."

"It's about the letters you keep sending John! The ones that sound like his dad's notes, in the all caps grey text and the really discouraging messages! You know wereally miss our old guardians and wish we haven't gone through what we have. And we've all experienced the same thing, too." Jade answered.

"Except we haven't."

"What do you mean?"

"I'm pretty sure John's dad doesn't hate his son for getting a free pass out of the Heat Haze," Dave hissed. Then came the backstory that Jade was all too familiar with: the look asking for the "Real Dave" that both Bro and John gave him, because he was one of the failures. Only got out after he got killed too, Jade heard for what she thought was the thousandth time. It would be the same song and dance all over again – she'd pull on her mask of optimism, drop earnest advice that would never be followed and let time pass. The cycle would perpetuate itself. Jade could see it all in her head, and how it made her fists clench. So what was the point of words and feeling jams, if they were all so cheap? Wait. These were bad thoughts, and this was Dave's feeling jam. They had to stop. She had to put them away.

But then it happened again.

Dave's voice pounded against his throat, trying to get out. Never breaking eye contact, the coolkid reaching over for a dusty pencil and notepad on the ground. Using his hand for a surface, he wrote:

jade why are you activating your eye ability all of a sudden

"I don't know! I didn't mean to do that! I just started thinking mean things that I shouldn't say or even think and now this is happening!" Jade let the rest of her breath go. Taking a new one, she said, "Maybe I can just deactivate it, and we can go on with the feeling jam." She blinked. "Better?

Again Dave's voice knocked against his throat. Not better.

we can just continue the feeling jam on paper jade its cool chill out

Yes. They could just keep talking using the paper and pencil. _How stupid_ , Jade mused in her head. _Stupid, stupid, stupid._ She was the one supposed to be helping Dave here, but who here was coming up with solutions? Stupid! But it would just have to wait. The gardener pushed her inner voice away, and began to read as Dave wrote. Occasionally, he crossed out a word and started again, but the feeling jam went smoothly otherwise. It was still the same song and dance, paper or spoken word or otherwise. But that wasn't stupid. Stupid. The word really made things feel sour in the world.

 _Ah, but it isn't really that stupid_ , whispered a voice, silent, in Jade's heart. It was smooth. Slippery in tone and word choice, like a snake. No one else heard it, it seemed, no one but the gardener herself. _You're not using all that's available to you._

So someone else had to give her advice now?

 _But is it really someone else when this is coming from your very own heart and mind? You want this, and you're saying it. With your thoughts. Listen to what you're telling yourself._

Dave scribbled on, unaware that his feeling jam partner had tuned into another voice.

 _Go all out, Jade. Those red eyes of yours? Open them even more. You have something to say, yes? That was you wished for. Go, fulfill your own wish. Open them wide._ I'll make you do it.

Something surged within Jade. It roared and pulled, tussling with the same heart that it swallowed just months ago. This was unacceptable. This was fine. She should cry. She should keep listening. Dave's throat finally relaxed, and so he looked back up at Jade, about to continue the feeling jam verbally as planned –

But then it happened again.

Jade managed a smile. Nanna came in with cookies, delicious chocolate chip cookies. The gentle lilt of her voice was in the air, and her trademark 'hoo-hoo' laugh continued to sound.

But then it happened again.

John was projecting into the past, wasn't he? Jade swore she saw him turn a corner, where the door to the room she was in hung open.

But then it happened again. And everyone had left. Nanna had probably gone to clean the oven, Dave home to do a project and John back to his present, whenever that was. Only Jade remained in the puppet pile room. It was lonely.

Apart from Dave's white slip of paper that he used to communicate just now, there was another on the floor, written on in green instead of red. It said:

"Being 'alone', doesn't mean that 'no one is around you', but rather, it means that 'you are not connected to anyone'." ~~a nice person whose name i cant remember right now :/

Jade was certain that it was Kemu who said that. One hundred percent positive. And it didn't matter.


	3. Precognition

But not really. That didn't quite exist.

Of course, that was considering the general populace. Jade knew by now that she, her friends and the ones she was making on Pesterchum, were not the general populace in at least one way. At one point, it could have been said that the gardener considered her life laid out for her. Years later, as the December snow fell and the computer screen glowed, that was no longer true. A dream of a normal life, and seeing sights off that Pacific island by choice and not emergency…These things couldn't happen anymore. She could not see the future. But carbonatedRecluse (Jade swore someone chose that name for him) probably could.

-gardenGnostic [GG] began pestering carbonatedRecluse [CR]-

GG: hi!  
GG: um...  
GG: what was your name again?  
GG: i cant remember :(

CR: Shintaro. My name is Shintaro.

GG: right shintaro!  
GG: sorry about that :/

CR: It's no trouble.  
CR: So, what is this for?

GG: well  
GG: i wanted to know something about your power  
GG: you can see the future or something like that right?

CR: Not really.  
CR: It's more similar to an idea of different...  
CR: Excuse me. I'm not sure what the word in English is.

GG: no no youre doing fine! :D  
GG: you have the best english of all your friends really  
GG: what are you trying to say?

CR: It's a strange idea.  
CR: Imagine if in some place, an event turned out like this. But in the same place, it turned out like that.  
CR: The two futures are different.

GG: oh!  
GG: so its like...  
GG: an alternate universe!  
GG: or different timelines?

CR: Something like that.  
CR: My English isn't good enough for me to know what the difference is.

GG: ok!  
GG: i will just assume its the latter  
GG: it sounds closer to what you were saying

CR: Yeah.  
CR: So, you asked if I could see the future and I told you it wasn't quite that way.  
CR: You see, there are different timelines in this world. Sometimes, life turns out one way. Sometimes, it turns out the other.  
CR: Usually people forget when a new timeline starts.  
CR: But I remember.

GG: oh ok!  
GG: it sounds like a very cool power :D

CR: Yeah.  
CR: So you wanted to know something, correct?

GG: yes!  
GG: how did you know?  
GG: is it because i told you in another timeline?

CR: It isn't.  
CR: It's because...  
CR: Excuse me. Let me look up a word in a Japanese-English dictionary.  
CR: Aah, found it. Inference.

GG: youre really good at inferring then!  
GG: especially since english is not your first language :)

CR: Yeah. Thank you.

GG: yeah!  
GG: so i was curious  
GG: what happens in our futures?

CR: Which ones?  
CR: There are many timelines.  
CR: Sometimes, only John gets an eye power, or none of you at all.  
CR: Maybe we meet in person, or we don't even meet on the internet. It's hard to say.  
CR: Are you worried about what will happen to you?

GG: no not at all!  
GG: i was just curious  
GG: someone mentioned your power and i wanted to know more  
GG: its really just curiosity! :)

CR: Are you sure?  
CR: Because, just knowing that you asked means that it must mean something to you. Your futures, I mean.

GG: yes i am very very sure!

CR: Well, if you say so.  
CR: But I won't tell you not to worry.  
CR: It's perfectly fine to.

GG: im not worried at all though  
GG: i can handle it! but thank you for saying that :)

CR: No trouble at all.

-carbonatedRecluse [CR] ceased pestering gardenGnostic [GG]—

It was a refreshing conversation for the both of them. Jade was glad that CR was a nice guy. Shintaro was glad he went through advanced English textbooks when he was young. Who knew it would have helped in a conversation with a green-text girl who lived in the US?

Afterwards, said green-text girl logged off her account and slipped on her coat. There was only so much time to do things before the school bus showed up. But as for the one who showed up afterwards, the one in the blue hoodie, he had as much time as the world would allow him.

-ghostyTrickster [GT] began pestering gardenGnostic [GG]—

GT: hi jade!

GT: i ended up in the past again.

GT: well, my past and your present.

GT: i'm not supposed to mess with the past anymore, but i want you to read this when you get home.

GT: i saw you during another project-y moment while you were doing a feeling jam with dave...

GT: and you had your power activated.

GT: but you stopped affecting me after a while! i think that was what you were trying to do. i could talk again, but you must not have heard me say anything.

GT: you are probably feeling down about your eye control abilities, but.

GT: i think you have made a good start, being able to cut off one person from a group of affected.

GT: shit, i think i'm going back to my present.

GT: bye!

-ghostyTrickster [GT] ceased pestering gardenGnostic [GG]-

Hope and a growing smile.

As Jade finished reading the message on her computer and switched it off, there was something swelling up in her. It felt great, like flying. So what if the whole power shtick was a reckless wish in the Haze? This was progress. This looked to be a start.

This was the beginning of something really excellent.

 **End**

* * *

 _AN: Welp, here's more Mekakustuck!  
I figured it'd be great to show that I'm not exactly dead, right? So here we are with Jade's character arc!  
There is still more where this came from, but since I actually wrote this portion of the series (character arcs and_ Snakes, Kids and Trolling _)_ _way before I signed up for this website, I'm actually just uploading stuff that's been done a long time ago._ _After Rose's character arc_ _and_ coughcough _the Outer Science fic_ cough _there won't be any more prewritten things I can just upload whenever. This'll mean a lower upd8 speed, but it won't be a hiatus without me saying anything!_

 _Finally, thank you for reading_ Dog Ears _and_ _the Mekakustuck series as a whole! Comments and criticism will be much appreciated. ~YellowTangerines_


End file.
